The Politicized Premodern Past
A Call for Proposals from the Radical History Review
Issue number 162 (October 2028)
Abstract Deadline: October 15, 2026
Co-edited by Robin Reich (Assistant Professor, Seattle University) and Sarina Kuersteiner (Assistant Professor, Union College)
Assistant Editors: Adam Matthews (Assistant Professor, Alma College), Claire Dillon (PhD Candidate, Columbia University), Benjamin Bertrand (PhD Candidate, Fordham University), and Alice Grissom (PhD Student, Rutgers University)
This issue of Radical History Review invites contributions that interrogate the diverse ways in which premodern periods of history are used in the present to advance, legitimate, and contest politics of division and dominance around the world. These invocations thrive on the longevity of premodern stories and symbols to craft modern representations of nations, institutions, and communities. Gender is another important throughline in this phenomenon, particularly assertions of what constitutes idealized masculinities and femininities at the expense of other identities. Including topics from a diverse range of cultures and temporalities, “premodern” is loosely defined as between the years 500-1500 CE.
From the neomedieval cathedrals built in Italy’s African colonies to the proliferation of Ottoman revivalist mosques around the world, modern expressions of power are often constructed from medieval and early modern pasts. We see such phenomena across the globe, from Pete Hegseth’s “Deus vult” tattoo to Putin’s idea of the Kyivan Rus’ or Xi Jinping’s Nine Dash Line. Historical narratives, often motivated by grievance, are increasingly used to seed political discord, define exclusionary identities, or establish dominance, among other ends. Whether these historical references are accurate or not, they become effective tools of propaganda and therefore essential to understanding political rhetoric.
This issue seeks to connect scholarship across disciplinary, geographical, and temporal boundaries. The goal is to elucidate modern uses of premodern pasts through a collection of case studies. These case studies should consider the form and function of politicized historical references and interrogate their inner workings. The volume will become a resource that supports the recognition, analysis, and confrontation of such deployments of the past, and the instruction of this material to students and the public. The editors welcome submissions from a wide range of contributors across diverse fields, regional and temporal specializations, career stages, and so on.
Topics can include, but are not limited to:
- The deployment of medieval symbols and narratives in the construction of modern authority, organized violence, and political identities;
- State-sponsored historical narratives that appeal to distant pasts rather than recent history;
- Techno-feudalism and other revivals of feudal metaphors in contemporary economic and social discourse;
- The role that pre-modern cultures, and especially warrior cultures, play in the performance of far-right constructions of masculinity;
- Invocations of premodern knowledge in wellness cultures and alternative medicine, especially as related to the care of women’s bodies;
- Race-making or nation-making through the premodern past;
- Medievalism in social media popular culture (e.g. film, television, games, or fiction) and their politicization; and
- The role of the nineteenth century in mediating the relationship between the past and present.
Submissions can take the form of traditional essays or, alternatively, short reference pieces, historiographical surveys, or resources for public outreach. RHR also includes the following sections: Historians at Work; Teaching Radical History; Public History; Interviews; and (Re)Views. We encourage contributors to consider submitting to these sections, and supplementing this work with corresponding writing that could be featured on RHR’s digital venue, The Abusable Past. Collaborative submissions are also welcome.
The editors of this special issue are founding members of the Medievalist Toolkit. The Medievalist Toolkit forges bridges between academics and public-facing professionals, including teachers, students, social workers, and medieval enthusiasts of all kinds: We participate at conferences and organize workshops and lectures. We develop teaching modules for K-12 teachers and for undergraduate classrooms. We teach courses, enabling our students to contribute their work to our website (https://medievalisttoolkit.org). Our goal is to develop tools that both change the public perception of mis-used aspects of the medieval past and that make scholarship on these subjects accessible to the public.
Procedure for submission of material:
By October 15, 2026, please submit a 1-2 page (double spaced) abstract summarizing the material you wish to submit to our online journal management system, ScholarOne. To begin with ScholarOne, sign in or create an account at https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/dup-rhr. After signing in, select “Author” from the menu up top, and click “Begin Submission” or “Start New Submission.” Please include “Issue 162” in your proposal title when filling in the form. Upload a Word or PDF document, including any images within the document. After uploading your file, select “Proposal” as the submission type and follow the on-screen instructions. Feel free to write to the journal’s managing editor at contactrhr@gmail.com if you encounter any technical difficulties or have any other questions about the process.
By November 30, 2026, authors will be notified whether they should submit a full version of their article for further consideration. The due date for completed submissions is expected to be in March, 2027. Those submissions selected for publication will be included in issue 162 of the Radical History Review, scheduled to appear in October 2028.
Abstract Deadline: October 15, 2026
Contact: contactrhr@gmail.com
Photo credit: Photo from the Charlottesville Unite the Right Rally by Rodney Dunning, August 12, 2017, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
